IDAHO LOTTERY HISTORY

In 1986 by initiative, the people of Idaho voted on the Lottery issue for the first time. The initiative resulted in a 60 to 40 percent "yes" margin, but was later declared unconstitutional

by the Idaho Supreme Court. The Court prohibited the amending of the Idaho Constitution by initiative. However, in 1988 the Idaho Legislature authorized a vote by the electorate of Idaho in the upcoming general election. In November 1988, the Idaho Lottery act became law when 51% of Idaho voters approved a constitutional amendment repealing the constitutional ban on lotteries.

Idaho set a new industry record by implementing a lottery within 200 days. The first Idaho Lottery ticket was sold on July 19, 1989. On that first day of sales, players purchased more than 840,000 tickets throughout Idaho. That first year resulted in $65 million in sales and the first dividend check of $17,225,000 was given to then Governor Cecil D. Andrus on behalf of the "People of the State of Idaho."

Since its inception, the Idaho Lottery has offered lottery players more than 900 different Scratch™ games.

On February 1, 1990, the first Idaho online (Lotto) ticket was sold. The first online game presented to Idaho Lottery players was "Idaho Super Lotto/Lotto*America." Idaho applied for and was accepted into membership of the Multi-State Lottery association (MUSL), which operated Lotto*America. Then in the fall of 1990, the Idaho Lottery presented Idaho's first exclusively Idaho cash lotto game, "Idaho Fantastic 5."

Over the years, the Idaho Lottery has offered different game with some changing names. Super Lotto/Lotto America became Powerball in 1992. Tri-West became Wild Card and ultimately Wild Card 2.

During Fiscal Year 2008, the Idaho Lottery offered five different on-line games: Powerball, Hot Lotto, Wild Card 2, Idaho Pick 3, and the Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle.

Another high point for the Idaho Lottery occurred on May 28, 2005, when Boise native Brad Duke won a $220.3 million Powerball jackpot. During Fiscal Year 2008, the Idaho Lottery had a record number, 16, Powerball Match 5 winners – players who won more than $200,000. In addition, the Idaho Lottery had three Wild Card 2 jackpot winners, including Ken Covert who won $2.78 million, the largest jackpot ever for that game. Bob Chester won $1 million in Idaho’s first $1,000,000 Raffle game.

The mission of the Idaho Lottery is to responsibly provide entertaining games with a high degree of integrity to maximize the dividends for public schools and buildings. Annual Dividends are split equally between the K-12 public schools and the State’s Permanent Building Fund.

To date, the Idaho Lottery has given back $402 million to the State of Idaho. Unlike many other state agencies, the Idaho Lottery is self-funding. It is composed of the Idaho Lottery Commission and the Idaho Lottery staff. The Governor appoints the five-member commission and each member serves for four years. The Commission adopts rules for the agency, approves contracts and monitors all Lottery operations.

Resource: http://idaholottery.com/lothist.asp